Soil & Seed Curriculum: Early Childhood Education & Black Ecological Justice

• In Event: Practices of Creative Placemaking

Description for Program

The Soil & Seed Curriculum, nurtures the potential of every child and family by
cultivating a sense of belonging, environmental responsibility, and advocacy, ensuring they grow
into resilient, socially conscious individuals deeply connected to their cultural heritage and the
natural world. In classrooms all over the world, children are engaged and indoctrinated in ritual.
Much of these rituals do not serve these children or their families and, are, at best, shallow
representations of a culturally responsive pedagogy. At worst, these rituals are the impetus for
the necessary rebellion to ensure self-preservation, but analyzed by disconnected educators as
disruptive behaviors. Unfortunately, the educational system’s response to these behaviors of
resistance fuels the high school dropout rates, and low literacy outcomes and also serves the
preschool-to-prison pipeline for black children in the United States. From the disproportionate
number of children of color being suspended, arrested, and tracked out of high-quality
educational opportunities in STEAM and the arts, to the disproportionate number of black
maternal death rates and health outcomes, to the black make employment and incarceration
come the need to revisit basics of holistic education from birth. This presentation will focus on
an emerging framework, Soil & Seed Curriculum, is a transformative developing framework
designed to support early childhood and early intervention through the lens of ecojustice,
centering the needs and experiences of Black children and families and their environments. This
curriculum bridges cultural relevance, family engagement, and environmental education to
create a holistic approach to learning and early childhood development.

Author

• Imani Irving Perez, Hunter College